Help For Young Scoliosis Patients

UVA Surgeon develops international database for treatment, teaching, and reassuring young patients with scoliosis.

UVA Surgeon develops international database for treatment, teaching, and reassuring young patients with scoliosis.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., October 11, 2010 -The adolescent and teen
years can be tough enough without the disfiguring and activity-limiting
effects of scoliosis. 18-year-old William Burnley knows this well. His
diagnosis of scoliosis came after he couldn't properly execute
directions from his Tae Kwon Do instructor.

"Stand up straight, is what his instructor told him," says Leonard
Burnley, William's father. "He replied that he was standing straight!
After class, the instructor said that we should take him to a
chiropractor."

But William would need more than a chiropractor. When the Burnleys
made their way to the University of Virginia's Spine Center, they met
with spine orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Vincent Arlet. They learned that
William would need surgery to correct the curvature of his spine. Arlet
answered their questions with help from a database he invented called
Scolisoft.

"There is a lack of evidence-based information about treatment and
outcomes for scoliosis," says Arlet. "What little data there is comes
mainly in the form of figures and charts."

So Arlet changed that by creating Scolisoft to show clinical
pictures and x-rays of different types of spine curvatures. Scolisoft
is the largest international, online, spinal deformity database and the
only database that carries clinical photographs of surgical patients
taken before and after surgery. It also shares information on how each
case was treated and the results experienced by each patient. Doctors
from around the world can enter similar information about the cases
they treat. All together, the information serves as a guide that helps
surgeons make decisions about the type of care their individual
patients need.

"When you get a new case that you can match with five identical
cases in the database, you can see clearly what the best course of
treatment was for that particular type of curvature," Arlet says. "The
extent of surgery that is needed varies. With information from the
database, we can avoid giving too little surgical correction or too
much surgical correction and we can determine exactly what is best for
the patient."

Scolisoft also lets patients see the type of spine curvature they
have and the kinds of results they can expect after surgery. William
got to see a photo of the type of curvature that matched his and was
excited to see that how straight his back would become.

"I was really impressed by the pictures," William says.

Scolisoft also has implications for medical education. Currently,
medical students and residents learn by reviewing medical records,
which is time consuming. With Scolisoft, they have a library of cases
that they can review and learn from, with just a click of the mouse.
Residents with access to the database also learn to set up research
protocols. They can study patient satisfaction and body image
information-items for which Arlet's team will soon have data. Scolisoft
is the only database of its kind in the world. Surgeons who use it give
overwhelmingly positive feedback.

"Our next step is to increase the number of physicians who use the
database and make Scolisoft the reference of choice for teaching,
research, and patient education," Arlet adds. Arlet and Mark Abel,
pediatric orthopedic surgeon at University of Virginia have constantly
been contributing their surgical cases to Scolisoft ever since it has
been established at UVA.

Each year, scoliosis affects several thousand people-mostly teens.
It is a complex deformity of the spine that can be either congenital or
idiopathic. If left untreated, scoliosis can worsen or result in
respiratory compromise.

For more information about scoliosis or Scolisoft, contact Vasantha
Reddi at 434.243.5382.